


Rule Or Ruins

by timaeustestifiedsilence



Category: Homestuck
Genre: Alternate Universe - Medieval, Canon deaths, F/M, Gore, Kingdomstuck, Other, Post-Sgrub, Pre-Sburb, Violence
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-03-19
Updated: 2015-07-20
Packaged: 2018-03-18 12:26:49
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 4
Words: 3,425
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3569663
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/timaeustestifiedsilence/pseuds/timaeustestifiedsilence
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A game can glitch. It's normal, in some cases. But when a game brings back the dead, you know something's not right. Sgrub - the game that ruined the trolls' lives. After they escaped to a meteor in the Veil, Alternia exploded. Gone. Completely obliterated. Then - their ancestors appeared. Flickering like holograms before finally becoming solid. They were dead, of course - those glowing white eyes gave it away. Except the Condesce. Now, the trolls and their ancestors are hurtling through space at an ungodly speed.<br/>CRASH.<br/>They created the humans. Now they have to get to know them.<br/>And another glitch? The way they traveled through space, they went through a time rift.<br/>Welcome to medieval Earth.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Prologue

It was over. They had won. The prize was glowing right in front of them.  _'Congratulations,'_ it seemed to say. Then it was all gone.

A flash of light, a sword. The door was sliced in half and everyone was transported away. Now the twelve trolls were stuck on a meteor in the veil with nothing more to do than wait and bother the kids.

Alternia had been destroyed by the Reckoning, of course. Hundreds of meteors falling through the sky.

Then there was an enormous meteor. It was more of a planet, really; it was nearly as big as Alternia itself. The two collided with impossible force, causing both to biolently explode. The shock wave ripped through space and slammed into their metoer, and now the trolls were hurling through space at unbelievable speeds, possibly faster than the Helmsman could have  _ever_ made the Condesce's ship go.

Fire was everywhere and parts of the lab were just breaking off. Space rippled and writhed and finally tore open, becoming an instant black hole, of sorts. Everyone shut their eyes and held on tight as they were pulled through. When they opened their eyes again, a few thought they were dreaming or dead, because before them stood the trolls of legend - their ancestors.

But there was no time to ask why. They had entered the human's universe and were right on course to crash into the Earth.

* * *

-̘̻̞̲̞̞̣͍̙̠̰͓̹̟̟ͅ ̣͉͉̣̥̤̞S̲̱̜͓̞ͅG̭͉̟R̹̝̙̣̝̳̖̪̝̦̲̤̮̭͎͖̥̯ͅU͍̹͇̘̮̭̟B̦̭̪͍̭͕̞̣̰̹̟͈̪ ̪͎̺̝̰̘͔̠̙̙̯̜H͎̤͇̖͔͇͖ͅA̬̱̖̠͍̪͕̟̩̪̣̟̻̞̙̤̪S͈͓̘̬̱̱̼͇̰̖ ̦͚̰͖ͅE͍̞̯̦̭̯N͎͓̜̩̩̬͕̟̩̳͇̹͈̮̫͕͎ͅͅC̱̩̪͍̖̼̤̠̰͉̩̞̞͎͕͉̘ͅO̪͓̞̝͚̗͎͕̮̼Ụ̙̣̭̗N̻̗̪̯̹T͇̭̗͓E͕̟͍͚̦̟̹̼̤̙̠͓̝̳͈̞̻̫ͅR͎̤̜͈͕̤̟E̳̺͈̘͔̳̹̝̳̥̗̻̳̮̮ͅD͍̟̜̗̩͇̮̘͚̫̤̭̝ ̥̟̹̹̣͈̱̹̞͓͉̲͓̥̩͇̤A̱̲͉̺̪̝̹͓͎̮̩̙̭̝̭N͇̣͖̖͔̝̳̟͔͍͇̹̱ ̱͕̙̥̭͇̲͈̹͈͍̼͔E̦̤̳̜R̺̼͎͓̺̙̦͔̻͇̬͖̳̠̯̩̘R̠͙̤͕̹̜͙̲O̩͍͚͓̙͚̩̟̦̘̱̜̹̺̠̟R̗̱̻̫͍  
̞̳̝̜͉͕͎̱̫̝̟-̟̟̭ͅ ͓͚̠͚̬̬͖̘̺͕̲͈ͅE̲͉͙̙̲̥̪̣͍̝̺̪̮͉̯̦͖̟R̗͈̣̣R̦̫͎̘̦͈̱̤O̼͍͍̦̤̠͔̱̹̜̝̳͓̙̞̪͕ͅR͓̼̖̗͙̝̹̙̘̞̻͎̙̞͙̱  
̣͚͍̞̘̗̮̱̹̻̲̫-͚̰̤̠͎̗ ͓͚̟E̪̪̞ͅR͔̟̬̞̲̼̳͖̜̦̳̭̭͉͎̤̮Ṟ̘͕͙͉̫̤̘͖͚̭̲͍̤̫̲̯͉ͅO̮̦̖R̖̻͍̖͓̹̲͓̺͈  
̮͇̞̪͓̝̱̝̥͍̯̜̙̠̻ͅͅ-̺̦̗̥͇̖͕͎̝̪̮͍̤E̫̻̪̫̹͈̬̳̙̗̜̤͎͚̬R̫̹͈̗͍̲̜̲͍̯̯͔̬̺R̘̙̹̲̞̩̙̬̙̥̺̯̲o͓͕͓̗̻̩̝R̜̗̠̲̜͕̮͙͍̗͍̟͓

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is the prologue so there is definitely more to come!


	2. Descend.

Birds chirped and sung their songs. Merchants sold goods at the market. Kids sat under the trees and talked. The regulars at the best pub in the kingdom laughed and clinked mugs as the colour rose to their cheeks. It was such a nice day that is seemed nothing could go wrong. What  _could_ go wrong? The weather was impeccable, and if you had a theory on what could go wrong that was even slightly ridiculous, you'd most likely be laughed at, like those 'philosophers'.

There was a high-pitched noise, becoming louder by the second. Most had put it off as something the children were up to, but when something blotted out the sun, the people of the kingdom knew it was no child's play. 

People left their homes and shops to look up at the sky. Something big was coming at them, and fast. The flames around the mass danced wildly and grew bigger. 

It had come crashing to the Earth faster than anyone expected, and the boom was so loud that half the windows in the kingdom exploded.

"It hit the southern tower!" a man yelled, "it could have wiped out the housing for all of the knights with them in it! We need to go see if there are any survivors."

Others hesitated before nodding in agreement. A kingdom without an army is merely a bunch of people pre-trapped and waiting to be slaughtered. 

* * *

Nearly all of the residents of the kingdom had gone to see the impact site. The dust had not yet settled, and most were too afraid to go any farther than the intersection of Clone Street, Prim Lane, and Grimdark Lane.

"Do you think there's anyone left?" A farmer asked, emerging from the nearby corn field.

A woman shook her head as she pulled her two children closer, "I doubt it, Arthur. the impact was ten times louder than a cannon. There's no way tha-" She stopped abruptly. 

"What? Mary, what is it?"

Mary said nothing. Everyone else had fallen silent and began slowly backing away. Something was moving within the dust. Several things. 

One after the other, figures began to emerge. Mary counted twenty-four of them. At first, the people were happy. They cheered, even. At least someone had survived. But then the figures stepped into the dim sunlight.

"What's wrong with their skin?" One woman cried.

"What are those weird things on their heads?" A child asked. Then one of the weird 'people' spoke, and mayhem broke out. 

The strange hisses emitted were terrifying and painful to the ears. The taller one with a red skirt approached the people slowly, hands held out imploringly. More hisses, sharp clicks. People began (irrationally so) screaming and running away, causing the thing to raise its voice to a shriek.

Then, amid the mess of noise, a trumpet sounded. The royal guard broke through the crowd to sit at attention on their horses. 

"Attention people of the kingdom of Suburbia! The King and Queen themselves have come to assess the situation. Give them your utmost respect," the guard at the front of the procession barked. Everyone but the newcomers bowed their heads and stepped aside.

The king spurred his horse further forward to stop and look down at the beings who had the nerve to crash in his kingdom. Although he showed no emotion on his face, the being in the red skirt could smell his fear and the sweat under his chain-mail armour. 

A shorter being stepped forward. It had a grey symbol on its shirt, resembling a 69 flipped on its side. It opened its mouth and released yet more hissing and clicked before another being stepped forward. It had a pair of glasses on its face, the left lens blue and the right lens red. It strapped a necklace on the others neck, which resembled a black strip of cloth with a small metal box in the middle. The being attempted to speak again. It now came out in clear English. 

"My name is Karkat Vantas. I am a troll, and so are the others that came with me. We come in peace, although our arrival was an accident. We aren't looking to hurt anyone and we'll leave as soon as we can," he said, putting his hands by his head where everyone could see. 

The king stared for a moment before responding, "I am King Magnus, ruler of Suburbia. I understand that you . . . mean no harm. I demand that you tell me who the other,  _trolls_ , as you say, are."

Karkat nodded and introduced the rest of the trolls, who nodded respectively. His voice faltered when he saw the ancestors again. He knew who they were, of course. He just couldn't believe that they were standing right there. 

"These are our ancestors. We each have one ancestor, and that can be shown by the correlation of blood colour and sign," each troll stepped a little closer to their ancestor. Except Karkat. He looked at his ancestor nervously, "and this . . . this is my ancestor, the Sufferer, or the Signless."

Sufferer took off his hood and smiled at Karkat, causing a rare smile to form on the younger trolls face. The two trolls to his left, Kanaya Maryam, who was the one in the red skirt, and the Dolorosa smiled warmly. 

 The king's brow furrowed as he processed the information, "Is there a leader of the trolls here?"

Karkat nodded and was about to speak when he was pushed out of the way.

"I am the Condesce, and I am the queen of all trolls." She seemed to not need the translator necklace like Karkat did. Te king have her a sort of dirty look, which was not missed, "You givin' me dirty looks? How dare you! These little brats created your universe, and  _you_! You respect them, you respect me. You respect all of us. Now kneel and say you're sorry, you pink-skinned, mutant-blooded scum."

Her words were like a slap to the face, and the king spluttered, "Regardless of your title or abilities, you have no right to speak to me like that!" He continued spitting out words, but the Condesce ignored him and examined her trident. Then she shoved it through his throat and watched him twitch before finally falling silent. Then she slowly removed her trident and watched the blood run down it. 

The humans stood in awe for a few seconds before coming to their senses. They all surged towards Her Imperious Condescension like a tidal wave before stopping.

The Psionic and Marquise Spinneret Mindfang had stepped forward and were using their powers. Psionic used his telekinetic powers to form a red and blue shield around all of the trolls, while Mindfang mind controlled the humans to forcibly calm them down. And while she was at it, she made the queen 'accidentally' fall off of her horse and break her neck. 

"Now, I don't know why we're here. I'm the only one alive and the rest of us ancestors are dead. One of you brats care to explain?" The Condesce snapped, eyeing the younger trolls. 

 The troll with red and blue glasses, Sollux Captor, took the voice box from Karkat. "We were playing a game called Sgrub. There's this event called the Reckoning that will send meteors to destroy Alternia, and we had to escape before we were killed. In order to escape, we got onto a meteor, which was in the Veil," Sollux pointed to the rubble behind him, "and we waited. We trolled these four kids who were playing the human version, called Sburb. Then something happened, like a glitch, because this planted almost as big as Alternia collided with it and caused Alternia to blow up, I'm guessing. It sent a shock wave through space, which made our meteor go ridiculously fast. It looks like the game glitched again, and space tore and our meteor went through it. It seems to have been a time rift or something, because now all of our ancestors are here and we seem to be on Earth in medieval times. As far as I know, the game is still working, because there was still some alchemizing equipment on the meteor in the lab."

After the long recap, the Condesce nodded. "So that's why we're here on your stupid planet." The half-conscious, barely thinking humans nodded slowly. "Since your king and queen are dead, I will assume power over the kingdom of . . . what was it . . . Suburbia."

Suddenly the Grand Highblood stepped forward and whispered something in the Condesce's ear. "The Grand Highblood will be king." Then she turned to address the other troll privately, "touch me and I will drown you in your own blood." The other troll nodded.

Then the psychic shield was put down and the humans' minds were set free. The royal guard was forced to escort the Condesce and the Grand Highblood to the castle to their new thrones. The people of the kingdom wandered away, going back to what they were doing before the trolls had crash-landed.

The rest of the trolls followed the royal guard to the castle by foot. Eridan, a male troll with gills and a purple cape, stooped to pluck the crowns off of the heads of their former owners before continuing on.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Please note that since Homestuck leaves many things to the imagination (like skin colour and what characters sound like) the way I wrote the Alternian language to sound is just my headcanon and you can feel free to imagine it a different way.


	3. Crime.

The next few weeks were tiresome. The  _humans_ were tiresome.

Every few days, a farmer would rally some other men and try to lead a revolt. The trolls would simply lock the doors to the main castle and sit on the roof, watching the ten or so people attempt to throw rocks and flaming torches at them. 

One revolt was particularly bad. Four members of the royal guard teamed up on he meaner spider loving troll girl Vriska at night. Despite her strength and luck, her left arm was cut off, and her left eye was pulled clean out of its socket. The culprits tried to hide, but the bitter sweet smell of her cerulean blood gave them away. Terezi, the blind troll with red glasses, sniffed them out. The next morning, there were four dead bodies to be disposed of, and Vriska had a shiny, new metal arm, as well as a spiffy eye patch.

From then on, a tighter watch was kept at all hours. Mindfang used her rather extraordinary powers to completely control the remaining guards. The day shift kept watch from 12 a. . to 12 p.m., while the night shift kept watch from 12 p.m. to 12 a.m. And, thanks to her generously giving the guards 12 hours of rest, none died. Well, one did.

Either way, the petty uprisings continued, doing no damage whatsoever. The Suburbians even began calming down, most accepting their fate of being ruled by trolls. 

* * *

 

Dark skies. Thick fog muffling light and sound. Everybody stayed in their homes, most shops closing early. This type of weather was not unusual, but the mood was tense and unsure.

Most of the trolls wandered the castle aimlessly, exploring rooms and seeking out hidden passages. Sweet smells mingled with each other, wafting through the halls lazily. To the sensitive noses of the aliens, it at first smelled like sweets baking, but they realised no one could really cook. The bubbly sea-dwelling troll Feferi, and the clowny troll Gamzee, however, knew better. It was no grubsauce. It was blood, and there was a lot of it.

The two ran quickly, following the smell. Other trolls nearby followed suit. Gamzee burst through the doors to the throne room and froze as Feferi, Terezi, and Karkat followed.

"Who would do suck a thing?" Feferi cried, collapsing against a nearby wall. The others stared in shock at the gory scene before them.

The Condesce and the Grand Highblood were dead. Murdered. _Brutally_ murdered.

The Condesce's trident was impaled through her throat, continuing into the stone wall. It held her about three feet off of the ground, blood still dripping onto the plush carpet after building up on the tips of her feet. The glamorous jewelry that showed her status was missing, and her wild mane of hair had been messily hacked off. The black locks mixed with the layer of dust on the stone floor. The Grand Highblood's signature horns had been snapped near the base. His neck had been slit, and his horns were put through his hands and into the wall, leaving him to hang next to the Condesce. His hair had also been cut, piling onto the floor.

"This will be sure to make an interesting investigation," Terezi said, patting Feferi and Gamzee on their backs, "sorry for your loss." 


	4. Chapter 3

"Why are you so sad, Feferi? It's actually a good thing she's dead. Now she can't hurt anyone." Karkat said, kneeling down next to the distraught troll.

"I know! It's just . . . it's so sudden and so gruesome! Besides, now that she's gone, I have to rule! I don't want to be like her!" Feferi glubbed, still crying. Karkat did his best to shoosh her. Gamzee was painting his face with his ancestors blood when Eridan swaggered in.

He cast a quick, disgusted look in the direction of the corpses before focusing on the now empty thrones. "Well, now that the thrones are yet again empty, someone needs to fill them. It really is a job for high bloods, so I'll take the king's throne." The smarmy seadweller then decided it would be perfectly okay to sit in the king's throne with the Grand High Blood's body dangling not too far away. "Come on, Feferi. You're queen now."

Karkat glared at Eridan. "What if she doesn't want to be queen? You can't force her. Hell, if I were here and  _I_ had to deal with you, I'd rather jump off a cliff."

Feferi's tears slowed and were wiped away as she stood up. "It's okay, Karkat. Thank you for standing up for me. I . . . I can handle this." She reluctantly sat in the queen's throne and glanced at Eridan, who was fumbling around in his cape. 

She nearly choked when he pulled out the crowns of the deceased human king and queen. He held them proudly, as if they were trophies. Much to Eridan's disappointment, the crowns could not fit over either of the trolls' horns. "Oh well . . ." he muttered, "they're not even worth smelting into rings." The crowns were tossed away, clanging and skittering across the stone floor. 

There was awkward silence for quite some time before anyone spoke.

"What are we going to do with the bodies?" Terezi asked.

Gamzee raised his hand. "I've got it covered." To prove it, he took the horns out of both trolls' hands and started dragging the bodies away. By now, the rest of the trolls had gathered in the throne room. Equius offered to help, but Gamzee told him to go play with the hoofbeasts that were surely around. 

* * *

 

Night fell. The trolls had all retired to their rooms. Sollux and Karkat fought with swords (although Sollux kept using his psionics). Nepeta was drawing on her wall with the blood of a rabbit, Equius was in the stable, Vriska was antagonizing Tavros, and pretty much everyone else was doing anything but sleeping. They had no sopor slime and no recuperacoons, and no one really could sleep without those. 

Terezi was out exploring a cave with Aradia. They had overheard stories from the locals about a dragon and its treasure, holed up in a massive cave.

They thought it was a lie because there was nothing there - at first. Deeper and deeper they went, scouring every surface, every hole. it wasn't until they got to the back of the cave before a discovery was made. There, tucked into a ball, was a small, black dragon, resting on a pile of various shiny objects. 

"Jackpot!" They both hissed, running forward. The dragon shot awake and bared its fangs in an attempt to protect its loot.

Terezi put her hands up. "Woah, there, little guy! We're not here to hurt you!" Aradia nodded in agreement. After an intense stare-off, the dragon  calmed down. Terezi squealed with joy and cuddled it in her arms. "I'm gonna name you Dark Knight!" She wandered back to the castle, leaving Aradia to enjoy the cave. 

* * *

 

It wasn't long before someone outside the castle found out.

"A  _dragon_?!" a woman cried, over hearing the talk of the men sitting behind her in the local pub. "Preposterous!"

The men shook their heads. "'Tis true!" one said. "Someone saw it flying around the castle courtyard with one of those 'trolls' running after it."

The woman huffed. "Those cursed trolls. First they kill the king and queen, then they take over the thrones, and now a dragon! They are putting all our lives at stake! They act as if we are their playthings. I say we just try to kill them."

"Oh yeah? How? I'm sure they have some secret weapons far more advanced than ours."

Another man jumped in. "Oh, I'm sure of that! But even if they do, it doesn't mean they're smart. I say we trick them. We could say that it's time for the annual festival, and then, once they're outside, we can surround them and take them out."

A few others nodded in agreement, but the rest shook their heads. They had seen what the trolls were capable of. Some trolls had unearthly powers. They truly were aliens. Besides, there were 24 of them, as far as they last knew. Even if the whole kingdom teamed up to take them out (which was highly unlikely), who's to say they would win? No one truly knew what they were able to do. Still, those who were naive and quick to act (without thinking) jumped at the idea.

Later that week on Saturday, the annual festival that was truly not due for another three months had started.

There were performers all over. The music was loud and the food was abundant. Everyone was having a blast - even the trolls, who suspected nothing. They had all gathered at a long table to eat (including the ancestors), Eridan and Feferi at the head of it.

Most people had been giving the trolls dirty looks - especially Eridan, who was having the time of his life telling others what to do and laughing at the jesters. 

In the background, one of the festival organizers pulled another aside. "That snooty troll gets under my skin so much . . . I'm going to do it. I'm going to kill him." He pulled out a dagger and ran stealthily through the crowds.

Within a minute, he had made it to the table and was lurking behind Eridan. Suddenly, he came into view of the trolls. 

"Death to the fake king!" he shrieked, and stabbed Eridan several times in the abdomen. 

Everyone went silent. No music, no talking. No breathing. Eridan sat in shock before slowly rising. His wand had made it to his hand. He spotted the man who had stabbed him, and the wand began to glow. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry that it's been so long since I've added a chapter!


End file.
